OSHA to Roll Back Rules on Toxic Mineral at Construction Sites

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The Hudson Yards construction site in New York. Under new rules from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, shipyards and construction sites would be exempt from some air quality measures concerning beryllium, a potentially deadly mineral.CreditSam Hodgson for The New York Times

Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, the agency said it might peel away some restrictions, and OSHA’s proposed new rule follows a lobbying campaign by sellers of a waste product known as coal slag, an abrasive used for sandblasting in shipyards and at construction sites.

OSHA’s step is another twist in a four-decades-long effort to lower workers’ exposure to beryllium, an industrial material linked to a debilitating lung ailment called chronic beryllium disease, which is estimated to kill 100 people annually.

“If this proposal to weaken the beryllium rule goes into effect, construction and shipyard workers will die and be permanently disabled,” said Emily Gardner, an advocate for workers’ health and safety at Public Citizen in Washington.

The OSHA proposal released on Friday would require shipyards and construction companies that use coal slag to meet the same new maximum exposure limit as other industries. But it also proposes to exempt the two sectors from several so-called ancillary requirements, like medical monitoring of employees and other specific safety measures.

OSHA estimates that there are about 11,500 affected workers in the construction and maritime industries, compared with 50,000 workers in other industries covered by the regulation.

In the document, the agency said it was taking the step because further review indicated that the ancillary safety measures provided no additional benefits in the maritime and construction industries, which had adequate additional safeguards already in place, such as the use of protective gear.

The Abrasive Blasting Manufacturers Alliance, an industry group formed by companies that sell coal slag, including the Harsco Corporation, had argued there was no evidence linking its use to beryllium disease. Public records show that the group has spent at least $60,000 to lobby OSHA since January.

Beryllium or alloys that contain the mineral are used to make airplane parts, computer components and nuclear weapons. The metal can also cause disease at extremely low doses in the small percentage of people who, because of their genetic makeup, have a vulnerability to it.

In 2015, OSHA proposed cutting the federal exposure standard to beryllium in workplaces to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air, from 2.0 micrograms. The measure also called for workers to undergo regular medical monitoring to detect early signs of beryllium-related sensitivity before the disease progressed.

Initially, the Obama administration’s beryllium rule was aimed at the metal’s use in general industry. But during the rule-making process, OSHA officials expanded it to cover the maritime and construction industries because of concerns related to the use of coal slag in sandblasting.

Coal slag is a waste product formed when the remains of coal burned in utility plants are doused with cold water. The result is a gritty, glass-like material — containing trace levels of beryllium — that is sold by companies to sandblast ships, storage tanks and other structures before painting.

During the process, however, trace levels of beryllium contained within coal can be released into the atmosphere. In devising its rule, the Obama administration cited data that found that air levels of beryllium detected during sandblasting at shipyards exceeded the new proposed exposure limit of 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

At the time, some big shipbuilders supported the new beryllium rule, and said they were moving away from coal slag toward other abrasives such as glass and garnet.

The OSHA proposal will undergo public comment and review before it is completed.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: OSHA Plans to Ease Obama-Era Air Quality Rules at Construction Sites. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe